


Sutartinės

by ImmortalxSnow



Series: History in Fifty Sentences [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: 50 Sentences, Angst, Anxiety, Betrayal, Bittersweet Ending, Catholic Character, Catholicism, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Drama, Enemies to Friends, Friends to Enemies, Friendship, Gen, Historical Hetalia, Hurt/Comfort, Lithuania is very musically gifted, Loss of Trust, Love, Mentioned Russia (Hetalia), One Word Prompts, Partitions of Poland, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia is not evil, Scars, World War II, rye fields, seriously they say a lot of Rosaries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28184859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImmortalxSnow/pseuds/ImmortalxSnow
Summary: Over the centuries, Poland and Lithuania have been strangers, friends, partners, and enemies. Here are fifty snapshots of their relationship from the 1300s to the present day. [Historical!Hetalia. Not quite LietPol, but there's definitely talk of love and emotional intimacy, so probably best described as romantic friendship. Rated for mild violence.]
Relationships: Lithuania & Poland (Hetalia)
Series: History in Fifty Sentences [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064693
Kudos: 5





	Sutartinės

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! There are so many things I could say about this work, but I’ll try to keep my notes to a minimum.
> 
> This fic is the first part of a new project I’m taking on. My goal is to explore the history and relationships between two Hetalia characters using the fifty-sentence format. Really, I just love how I can use this form to weave together all these different threads into one beautiful tapestry.
> 
> That said, I obviously can’t capture all the nuances and complexities of history in fifty sentences. Please bear that in mind, especially with Pol and Liet. I know the two have a complicated relationship. I tried to be as accurate and sensitive as I could, although I did take some artistic liberties. (For instance, Lithuania is more nostalgic for the Commonwealth here than Lithuanians are in real life—that’s how he comes across in canon.) Certain controversies I’ve left out entirely, because this just isn’t the place to discuss them. But please do let me know if I’ve gotten anything completely wrong. 
> 
> Finally, a big thank you to my Polish-American friend who cheered me on throughout the writing process. I would have given up on this without you.

**Motion**

Poland puts on a cocky performance for Lithuania and his men, but all the while, his heart is pounding and his head is spinning.

**Cool**

At first, their every interaction is a masquerade, and it takes time for their carefully choreographed exchanges to ease into something more authentic.

**Young**

The Battle of Grunwald tests not only their youthful strength but also their fledgling trust in each other, and the thrill of success is overwhelming.

**Last**

From that day on, their bond is unbreakable.

**Wrong**

As Lithuania makes the sign of the cross, Poland elbows him and says, “You’re still saying the first part wrong.” [1]

**Gentle**

Poland wants to comfort Lithuania when he’s upset, but sometimes their insecurities feed off each other too much.

**One**

They will remember their agreement in Lublin—what one gave, and what the other took—very differently.

**Thousand**

“You know,” says Poland while practicing his sword-fighting, “I’m so strong, I could take down a thousand men on my own.”

**King**

Lithuania smiles awkwardly when his noble families speak to him in Polish.

**Learn**

A dull ache gnaws at Poland’s heart when he finds Lithuania reading a copy of his Statutes, those new laws that treat the Polish people as little more than foreigners.

**Blur**

Their years together go by like a beautiful, complex song that lingers in their ears long after its completion.

**Wait**

One day, out of the blue, Poland asks, “Do you ever wish you could stop time?”

**Change**

After some reflection, Lithuania realizes his answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no, because if he stopped time, he couldn’t fall in love with all the little ways his companion changed from day to day.

**Command**

The weary infantry burst into hymns and shouts of joy when Poland and Lithuania emerge from the forest, the sunlight glinting off their armor, and join the Battle of Vienna.

**Hold**

Poland is frightened by the sudden sharp pains in his body during the Great Northern War, and only an embrace from Lithuania can keep him from having an anxiety attack.

**Need**

When Lithuania recalls their ruse at Grunwald, his mind lingers on the trust that shone in Poland’s eyes when he let himself be captured—the blond wouldn’t think twice about risking death if his partner asked, and that unabashed vulnerability still made Lithuania’s heart skip a beat.

**Vision**

Although neither brings it up, they can see that their time together is nearing its end.

**Attention**

Lithuania has taken to sitting in the rye fields at dusk with his kanklės, grounding himself by focusing on the gently melancholic music and the polished wood beneath his fingertips.

**Soul**

Poland is far too spirited to die, but it still bothers him that since the first partition, he’s started to catch glimpses of the ghosts of former nations.

**Picture**

One day, after they get into an argument, Lithuania finds Poland kneeling in front of a painting of Our Lady, praying Rosaries for all he’s worth.

**Fool**

Written amid incredible turmoil, their constitution may seem to the encroaching foreign powers little more than one last desperate grasp at power, but it keeps the flame of independence burning in their hearts.

**Mad**

As if the past century hasn’t been crazy-making enough, Russia finally succeeds in taking Lithuania away, and Poland can do nothing but giggle nervously as he watches.

**Child**

Poland finds himself daydreaming about heaven and wondering if, in his smallness and fragility, he’s finally become enough like a child to enter the kingdom.

**Now**

The first lines of _Anykščių šilelis_ —“Stump-littered hillocks, desolate and bare, / Can anyone believe you once were fair?”—leave Lithuania shattered.

**Shadow**

If he can’t be free, Poland decides, he won’t sink into the shadows and disappear; no, he’ll join his friends across the Continent in their fight for independence.

**Goodbye**

Instead of saying goodbye to his golden age, Lithuania creates beauty from loss, writing poetry and songs in his own language.

**Hide**

Poland can’t hide his joy when, on the verge of collapse, he manages to force Russia back across the Vistula River, and with him the biggest threat to his new independence.

**Fortune**

Poland and Lithuania’s meeting on the battlefield would have been a stroke of luck had they not, little by little, begun to fight each other.

**Safe**

After all, it’s hard to feel safe around someone, even an old friend, when you feel like an open wound.

**Ghost**

The trauma of the partitions makes Poland desperate to restore what he and Lithuania once had, even as he realizes deep down he’s seeking comfort in ghosts.

**Book**

Decades later, Lithuania will try to write down the tragedy that played out between him and Poland in the 20s and 30s, but every time he puts pen to paper, his memory freezes up.

**Eye**

If they can’t see eye to eye anymore, they won’t see each other at all.

**Never**

Perhaps if they hadn’t wounded each other so deeply, they could have changed the outcome of World War II, but now they’ll never know. [2]

**Sing**

In the darkest moments of the war, Lithuania murmurs one of his sutartinės to lift his spirits, but the song rings hollow without Poland to complete the harmony.

**Sudden**

One day, out of the blue, Poland writes a letter to Lithuania saying, “I prayed a Rosary for you.”

**Stop**

Poland will never stop fighting: not when the Allies abandon him, not when Warsaw turns to ash and rubble all round him, not even when he runs out of food and water will he back down from battle.

**Time**

The first time they see each other during the war, Lithuania is paralyzed by a deep feeling of inadequacy: he can neither mend the rift between them nor end the evil besieging his former partner.

**Wash**

So he settles on one small thing he can do: he washes Poland’s hair until all the blood and mud is gone.

**Torn**

After four years caught in a tug-of-war between Germany and Russia, Lithuania is forced to return to the latter’s house, and for the next several decades, he and Poland barely hear from each other.

**History**

Russia says to Lithuania, “I guess I don’t understand why you would want to be with Poland—your time together wasn’t that great, and besides, you have me now.”

**Power**

Centuries ago, Poland said he was strong enough to take down a thousand men on his own; now, he has proven that claim by helping end the long tragic night of communism.

**Bother**

The lack of communication during the Soviet era froze Poland and Lithuania’s relationship, and even as they try to thaw it out, they find themselves increasingly getting on each other’s nerves.

**God**

Forgiveness is divine, and they are painfully human.

**Wall**

Slowly, slowly, the walls they’ve built come down, and they begin to rebuild their trust in one another.

**Naked**

One night, Lithuania has a dream that Poland is gently touching the scars on his back, and the next morning, the ache in his chest is so heavy he can hardly get up.

**Drive**

Other countries have learned just how driven Poland can be when it comes to Lithuania: if he thinks anyone is shutting his friend out of any opportunities, he’ll go knocking on every door and using every trick in the book to make sure Lithuania gets what he deserves.

**Harm**

After all these years, they know one another better than anyone else: how to hurt each other, yes, but also how to heal.

**Precious**

It’s been said that history is a series of timeless moments, and Lithuania is starting to appreciate the truth of those words: the afternoons he and Poland spent in the rye fields were a foretaste of eternity.

**Hunger**

Shyly, Poland invites Lithuania to attend Mass with him, and when they receive Communion together, his heart finally feels at peace.

**Believe**

The strongest bonds are the most beautiful and the most painful, because betrayal is the flaw in intimacy—but maybe someday Poland and Lithuania can agree, without a doubt, that the possibility of pain isn’t too steep a price to pay for love.

**Author's Note:**

> [1] “Poland elbows him and says, ‘You’re still saying it wrong.’” 
> 
> In Lithuanian, the sign of the cross begins with the words “Vardan Dievo Tėvo,” or “In the name of God the Father,” instead of the more common “In the name of the Father.” 
> 
> [2] “They could have changed the outcome of World War II.”
> 
> At least, that’s what Stasys Raštikis, commander of the Lithuanian army, believed. I’m not sure what Polish scholars think of this idea.
> 
> Also, I’m now convinced that Lithuania is one of the most musically gifted nations. Seriously, I want to write something with him and Austria bonding over music now.
> 
> It’s so hard to cover this much history in just fifty sentences. Naturally, things get left out. As a bonus, here are some sentences that wound up on the cutting-room floor:
> 
> Poland delights in feeling powerful, and he knows that sometimes the best way to show off his strength is to be gentle.
> 
> Lithuania joins hands with Latvia and Estonia and sings for all the world to hear—and then, he is free.
> 
> What scares Lithuania the most is how Russia cries softly all night long—he doesn’t know what’s wrong, he’s powerless to make Russia’s tears stop, and it makes him feel so small.
> 
> The only thing that gives Poland the strength to get out of bed after John Paul II’s death is a series of texts from Lithuania making sure he’s taking care of himself.
> 
> “If you go to purgatory, I won’t pray for your soul—you’ll just have to sit there and think about what you’ve done!”


End file.
